Mikaela Shiffrin adds 84th World Cup win to overall record

Mikaela Shiffrin adds 84th World Cup win to overall record

SAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy — Mikaela Shiffrin was not long in coming to add to her record of World Cup wins.

A day after the record No. 83 win, Shiffrin added her 84th victory in another giant slalom at the same course on Wednesday.

And like the day before, Shiffrin led from start to finish, dominating heat one on the steep Erta course and extending her advantage in heat two.

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Shiffrin finished 0.82 seconds ahead of two-time Olympic silver medalist Ragnhild Mowinckel and 1.19 seconds ahead of Olympic champion Sara Hector.

When Shiffrin reached the finish after her second run, she collapsed in the snow, apparently exhausted – skis still attached to her boots – before Mowinckel and Hector came over to congratulate her and help her up.

“Oh my god,” Shiffrin said. “I was pushing so hard and hoping to get all the goals on the right side. Now I’m a little bit dead mentally – just so tired. But when you drive like that it keeps your energy up, so it’s just an amazing feeling.”

Tuesday’s win put Shiffrin ahead of the women’s previous mark of 82 wins set by former America teammate Lindsey Vonn, and Wednesday’s win put her within two points of Ingemar Stenmark’s overall record — male or female — of 86 wins.

Vonn retired four years ago when injuries ended her career and Stenmark raced in the 1970s and 80s.

If Shiffrin wins two slaloms in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic this weekend, she could match Stenmark on Sunday.

“Technically it’s possible,” Shiffrin said, laughing. “Let’s see if I can pack the energy for two more races on my slalom skis.

“It’s been busy and I’m at an unhappy time in my monthly cycle so I’m more tired at the moment. We just normalized talking about it,” she added.

Shiffrin made her World Cup debut in Spindleruv almost 12 years ago as a 15-year-old prodigy.

“It’s a special place for me,” she said. “So I’m really looking forward to going.”

Former giant slalom World Cup champion Marta Bassino was on her way to the podium before losing control a few gates from the finish and plowing through a gate that caught her hard in the shins.

It was Shiffrin’s 10th win of the season and her 19th career win in giant slalom, within Vreni Schneider’s all-time record of 20 in the discipline.

Shiffrin said she had a late night after her record day.

“But it was a really nice evening,” she said. “It was so nice to see messages from people and so much support and excitement about the race. I definitely looked at all this very carefully and then tried to go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. And I was up at midnight. I woke up at 3am. Then I woke up at 5am. I was hungry all night. I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m a mess.'”

Still, Shiffrin managed to pull herself together to show off her best skiing again.

“After [Tuesday]”I was just so tired, which made today pretty tough,” she said. “And I was nervous because when I ski tired I make mistakes. And I didn’t want to make a mistake today.

“In the first run I thought, ‘Either I go out on the fourth goal or it’s going to be a really good run.’ In the end it was a really good run. For the second run I just tried to trust my skiing and keep going no matter what I was feeling.”